Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Three raised in Manitoba make short list to become astronauts
Allyson Hindle, (from left) Mark McCullins and Keith Wilson are among 16 finalists to become astronauts.
Three candidates raised in Manitoba have made the short list in the Canadian Space Agency’s year-long national astronaut recruitment campaign. Two of the final 16 candidates will be chosen in May for Canada’s Astronaut Corps and will attend astronaut school in Houston, Texas in August.
Allyson Hindle, the only woman to make the cut from the 5,351 candidates who applied, was born and raised in Winnipeg and is a marine mammal researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She and 15 men — including two more Manitobans — were introduced at a space agency press conference in Toronto this morning.
Keith Wilson was raised in Stonewall and is attending medical school at the University of Manitoba. Wilson spent 14 years with the Canadian Forces as a military search and rescue helicopter pilot and test pilot. While with the military, he also worked at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment responsible for the coordination, conduct and efficiency of AETE air operations.
The third candidate is Mark McCullins. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland but raised in Winnipeg. The engineer, who trained as an experimental test pilot, lives in Brighton, Ont., and works for Canadian Air Force at 8 Wing Trenton.
"It’s the opportunity of a lifetime," Steve MacLean, president of the Canadian Space Agency, said in a webcast of the news conference this morning.
The national astronaut recruitment campaign was launched last May. A record 5,351 potential astronaut candidates submitted applications on-line. The space agency screened the on-line applicants then narrowed the field. Candidates were selected, interviewed then put through a series of medical exams and physical and skills tests - sometimes under extreme conditions.
In May, two will be have a chance to represent Canada in future space exploration missions, including long-duration space flights on the International Space Station.
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